Women-Run Businesses Outperform Male-Run Counterparts on Kickstarter

“Women account for less than 8% of chief executives at venture-backed firms, occupy just 17% of board seats at Fortune 500 companies and own a mere 30% of all companies,” writes Ruth Simon for the Wall Street Journal. “But early data suggests that they are outperforming men in another arena: raising money online via crowdfunding.”

It looks like female entrepreneurs, who typically start businesses with less capital than their male colleagues, are outpacing men on Kickstarter at meeting their fundraising goals. Roughly two-thirds of women-led tech firms reach their goals compared to only 30% of male founders.

This is particularly interesting in light of the fact that men seem able to raise twice as much capital from other, more traditional sources, than women. Although the gap is not as large for sectors other than tech, in every category including tech, film, fashion, games, and children’s book publishing, women are beating men in their ability to raise capital through crowdfunding.

It could be that a large percentage of Kickstarter backers are women. “Women account for about 44% of Kickstarter backers,” says Elicia Robb, a senior fellow at the Eqing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

That said, there is some thought that women are just doing a better job right now articulating their plan. We have to wonder, as more and more small business financing goes online, is it hard to imagine a more level playing field for women entrepreneurs?